KARACHI: Selling pressure persisted at the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) on Monday, extending last week’s sharp losses as investor sentiment remained subdued amid rising domestic uncertainties and external geopolitical concerns.
The benchmark KSE-100 index witnessed a volatile session, recording an intra day high of 185,650.60 and a low of 180,992.80. By the close the index had declined by 1,789.20 points or 0.97%, to settle at 182,340.38.
Although the market opened on a positive note early gains were short lived as selling pressure resurfaced quickly. Broad-based selling was observed across major sectors including automobile assemblers cement commercial banks oil and gas exploration firms and oil marketing companies reflecting the absence of positive triggers to reverse the bearish trend.
Index-heavy stocks such as Oil & Gas Development Company, Mari Energies, Pakistan Petroleum, Pakistan State Oil Sui Southern Gas Habib Bank Meezan Bank and National Bank traded in the red exerting significant pressure on the index.
In key developments Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb said Pakistan remained on track to manage public debt through extended maturities and reduced servicing costs. However Moody’s downgraded its outlook on Pakistan’s banking sector from positive to stable weighing on sentiment.
According to Arif Habib Limited selling continued into the first session of the new week with oil and gas stocks acting as major drags. Technical indicators suggest the index must reclaim the 187,000 level to avoid further downside risk.
Total trading volume declined to 931.3 million shares while the traded value stood at Rs58.8 billion. Of the 481 companies traded, 161 advanced 278 declined and 42 remained unchanged. K Electric led volumes with 302.5 million shares closing at Rs9.42 up Rs0.48.
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